A Flurry of Emotions Review · 4:58pm Apr 22nd, 2017
So we've finally got a Flurry Heart episode, and one that apparently many people were really looking forward (I wasn't one of them). Personally, I don't mind Flurry Heart, but there's really no reason at all why she couldn't just be a powerful unicorn. And I've already expressed my opinion that there's not much the show could do with her that couldn't be done with the Cake Twins. The writers for this episode are the first of the new writers for this season, and as it turns out the reason why we've got so many new writers is because Season 7 was ordered while Season 6 was still in production, so the overlapping schedules likely explains why so few veteran writers are onboard this season. Anyway, our new writers are Sammie Crowley and Whitney Wetta, among their writing credits are "Fairly Odd Parents" which if you've been on the Internet at all for the past two years or so, you should know about the controversy surrounding the most recent seasons. It's gotten so bad that the show has been bumped to Nicktoons and had its animation budget cut in half, so now it's using cheap flash. Basically, the show is on its death bed, but it is going to be a slow, painful death for what was once a really good show. Our writers have also worked for "T.U.F.F Puppy" which was created by Butch Hartman who also gave us "Fairly Odd Parents" and "Danny Phantom", all three shows of which have been screwed over by Nick (remember that Joanna and Kristine wrote for "T.U.F.F Puppy" too). And lastly we have "The Loud House". If you recall I mentioned that I've heard good things about it, but have been reluctant to watch it for fear Nick will run it into the ground. So with a resume like that you'd think these writers would at least okay, but, well let's look at the episode and hopefully you'll see.
We begin with Nurse Redheart visiting Twilight's castle, apparently an entire group of foals in Cheerilee's class (though not the CMC or any of the usual classmates) got sick with something called Horsey Hives. Twilight decides to add visiting the sick foals to her already busy schedule, despite Spike's concerns. Just as he's about to knock on wood, Shining Armor and Cadence show up with Flurry Heart in tow, and they look quite frazzled, one reviewer has suggested this was a holdover script from Season 6, which would probably explain the frazzled looks. Anyway, Shining Armor and Cadence decide to leave Flurry Heart in Twilight's care, as they are going on a last minute visit to an art gallery hosted by one of Shining Armor's old friends from the royal guard. Despite Spike's objections, Twilight agrees to take care of Flurry Heart, even though she isn't really paying attention, not even when Shining Armor and Cadence mention a special stuffed animal that will calm Flurry Heart down if she gets fussy. But I suppose if Twilight had Smarty Pants and Shining Armor had Brutus Force, it would only make sense for Flurry Heart to have a snuggle buddy of her own.
Twilight spends a little bit of time flying after Flurry Heart and playing with her, but accidentally scares her and has to apologize. When Spike tells Twilight it's time to get going and shop for toys for the sick foals, Flurry Heart's stomach growls and we get the typical feeding scene in babysitting episodes. Meanwhile, Shining Armor and Cadence are finding it hard to feign interest in art, especially since Shining's old friend has very weird tastes (he even puts up a black patch and calls it "A Thousand Nights in a Hallway"). Feeding Flurry Heart and cleaning up after her causes Twilight to fall behind schedule, and she decides to take Flurry Heart with her to go shopping. Now that I would say, is not an unreasonable decision to make. But what is unreasonable, is to try and speed through the store to make up for lost time. It doesn't help that Twilight stops paying attention to Flurry Heart, so Flurry Heart manages to move the shopping cart on her and crash it into a toy stand.
Cleaning up this mess puts Twilight further behind schedule, but she refuses to scrap any of her planned events, or find someone to watch Flurry Heart for her while she does it. She takes Flurry Heart to the schoolhouse to visit Cheerilee and pick up a book to read to the sick foals in the hospital. But while both Twilight and Spike are distracted, Flurry Heart becomes fed up with not getting attention, and erases Cheerilee's sketched equations on the chalkboard so she can draw her own little doodle. Not entirely sure why Cheerilee would have something so complicated still up on the board when it doesn't look like class is in session.
Still not quite seeming to get the problem (both of Flurry Heart's issues so far have been because Twilight isn't paying even a little attention to her), Twilight stops at Sugarcube Corner to pick up some treats to offer as apologies to the ponies who she's unintentionally ruined their work, and leaves Flurry Heart to play with the Cake Twins. But again, she focuses on her schedule and just leaves Spike to watch the babies, which leads to trouble when the twins start arguing over a toy balloon and Flurry Heart tries to solve the problem by breaking it in half and giving each twin a half. With Pinkie busy retrieving some files from her party planning cave, and Spike busy searching for a second toy, the twins chase after Flurry Heart and make a mess of Sugarcube Corner, leaving Twilight behind schedule yet again.
But despite the setback, Twilight decides it's still a good idea to go visit the sick foals, even though she probably doesn't know anything about Flurry Heart's vacinations, and babies immune systems aren't as developed as school aged children or young adults (hence why they always lump babies in with the elderly for those most at risk with diseases). Fortunately, Flurry Heart doesn't get sick, but Twilight yet again pays no attention to her because she's busy reading a book to the school foals. Things go from bad to worse when Flurry Heart loses her stuffed snail plushie and throws a temper tantrum powerful enough to levitate the hospital beds, nearly hitting Twilight with one. In addition, Flurry Heart teleports all over the hospital to find her plushie, only getting more upset when she doesn't find it. Twilight stops the runaway beds and commands Flurry Heart to put everything down, then she lectures Flurry Heart for misbehaving. But when Flurry Heart starts crying, Twilight finally realizes how bad of an aunt she's been and offers Flurry Heart her apologies. At least it makes sense for Flurry Heart to forgive Twilight, as Twilight wasn't intentionally ignoring the problem, not that she isn't still to blame for being so blind. She vows to find Flurry Heart's plushie, after she helps clean up the mess Flurry Heart's actions have caused at the hospital. Too bad she doesn't have Pinkie's special vaccum cleaner.
Shining Armor and Cadence meanwhile, are finding themselves being reminded of Flurry Heart with the art, and they decide they have to go back and be with her. They return to find everything okay, but Twilight still explains how she messed up and apologizes. Shining Armor and Cadence apologize a little for springing foalsitting on Twilight on such short notice, then Cadence asks Twilight if she's available on Tuesday, but for dinner, not for foalsitting. And Twilight agrees to check her schedule before making such arrangements.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's more or less what I was hoping it wouldn't be. It really is "Baby Cakes 2.0 but with Twilight", and keep in mind that this is someone who likes "Baby Cakes" and finds it to be the most overhated episode in the fandom. So you'd think I would like this episode, but if I said that I'd be lying. It's not really bad persay, at least compared to Trixie Twilight realizes her mistake, apologizes, and tries to right the wrong she did. Predictable to a fault is probably the best way to describe this episode, even though it doesn't hit nearly as many of the babysitting episode cliches that "Baby Cakes" hit. The main problem here is Twilight, this episode's potrayal of her makes her behavior towards Pinkie Pie in "Baby Cakes" seem hypocritical. Remember that Twilight was basically implying she didn't think Pinkie could handle the responsibility, and that she knew how to take care of babies. So for Twilight to say that and then make mistakes that even Pinkie Pie didn't make in "Baby Cakes", it doesn't make her behavior in that episode feel like anything but hypocrisy on a major level. Do note that Pinkie was doing better than anyone had thought, even the Cakes came back expecting to find Sugarcube Corner a mess. Even though Pinkie was mostly interested in playing with the twins and was unprepared for taking care of them, she did a good job. Yes, she left the twins alone in the bathtub, for a split second, that was it! Twilight, however, payed very little attention to Flurry Heart even when it was clear that leaving her unattended was causing trouble. Considering it never once crossed her mind to get help or maybe scrap some of her plans, she's lucky Flurry Heart didn't get hurt! Babysitting is a full time responsibility, you are expected to watch the child you're entrusted with caring at all times! Looking away for even a couple of seconds can result in disaster! Even if you believe Princess Celestia raised Spike once hatched (and there isn't much to suggest it), I can't buy Twilight making such an ameatur mistake. Yes, she learns her lesson, but when the lesson becomes obvious almost from the get go, it's hard to really enjoy anything. And cute hijinks from Flurry Heart aren't gonna make up for that. In the end, I give this episode a C-. I can overlook predictably to an extent if the story is good, but when this episode is already similar in nature to an earlier episode of the show, that does not exactly bode well for it. The show is better than rehashing episode ideas, even if this isn't a full on repeat of "Baby Cakes". I would say this is the poor man's "Baby Cakes", which seemed to think less cliches was all that was needed to make a good story. (Edit:
Upon retrospect, the scenes with Shining Armor and Cadence are good enough to lift this up to a C+,
while "All Bottled Up" drops to a C since Starlight could've tried to at least talk to Trixie the first time instead of resorting to magic,
though whether Trixie would've listened is another subject)
Next week is probably not gonna do this season any favors in my book. We've got "Rock Solid Friendship" where Maud considers moving to Ponyville now that she's completed her rocktorate, and Pinkie decides to show Maud that Ponyville has more than just rocks to it. I hate to say what should be obvious, but Maud knows this, she went to Ponyville in her debut episode! She KNOWS Ponyville has more to it than rocks! The only way you would think that she didn't, is if you didn't see her debut episode, which would you not when it's named after the very character the episode is about?! And I'm already calling it now, there is absolutely no way Maud will be moving to Ponyville, not this close to the movie. They're not gonna risk that big a change to the status quo for a character who will probably neither appear or be mentioned in the movie at all! And I'm thoroughly convinced we'll have new writers penning this episode, because only new writers could possibly make that mistake with Maud. I'm hoping I'll be proved wrong though, I really don't want to have two episodes in a row that failed to subvert my expectations even just a little. I mean come on, there's more to Maud than rocks!
Considering the mother is an alicorn, I'd have been surprised if Flurry turned out not to be one.
As for me, this is one of the most adorably hilarious episodes in the series.
I personally prefer this over Baby Cakes, simply because I just found it a LOT funnier, and Flurry Heart's more adorable than the Cake twins.
I think Flurry Heart is an overpowered character. I do agree that she should just be a unicorn.
I really love this and so far is one of the best of S7. Though Twilight was very busy trying to keep up with the schedule that it is tough for her to let go a few things on the list. She should had Spike do some of the stuff.
I love Flurry Heart as a Alicorn and a crazy powerful one as that. She can bring new funny and entertaining moments since she is only foal. But doesn't it seem like she is smarter than the other foals... It's like she is growing up faster since she is a Alicorn.
Yeah, this wasn't good if I'm honest, it kinda feels like going back to Season 2 standards. Also, I have to say that after watching these episodes, I'm already losing interest for this Season and the next episode doesn't look promising either.
4507033 Same here, I'm thinking it's gonna take until "Fluttershy Leans In" at the earliest to get things going. So far we haven't had a truly outstanding or even close to oustanding episode. Yes, "Celestial Advice" was good, in the last couple of minutes. The rest of the time was spent building up to a hasty resolution.
So I guess its confirmed the twins might be potty trained?
I can't agree with you on this. I was afraid this would be Babycakes 2.0, but it was a vast improvement. It makes a lot more sense for Flurry Heart to be unusually strong than the Cakes, there's a lot less f*cking crying, and Flurry just feels a lot more like a real infant than Pound and Pumpkin did in their debut.
4507192 Maybe, it would stand to reason that they're at least two years old, as two Hearth's Warmings have come and passed since they were introduced, possibly three. Two years old is usually the age potty training begins at, though the general consesus is that there's no specific age, it varies from child to child.